Musical instruments that generate sound by forced air, such as saxophones, clarinets, trumpets, flutes, bassoons, oboes, trombones, have vents that the musician closes and opens via a key mechanism to control the flow of moisture or air through the musical instrument from the musician's breath. Names for these vents vary but include “tone hole,” “key pad,” “valve key,” “water key,” “drain valve,” “whisper key,” etc. For the purposes of this disclosure we will refer to these openings simply as vents.
A musician utilizes a key touch to operate a key mechanism to raise and lower one or more pads that opens or closes onto one or more vents to form a seal. When a musical instrument is not being played, some of the pads are in an open position and some of the pads are in a closed position. This configuration is referred to as a normal position of the pad for the purposes of this disclosure. For example, the normal position of the pad for the low D-sharp vent of an alto saxophone is closed, i.e., normally closed; the normal position of the pad for the G vent of a flute is open, i.e., normally open. The pad, usually made of leather or leather-like materials, covers a corresponding vent when closed and forms a tight seal. The contact area of the pad that seals onto the vent is called a “seat.”
As an instrument is played, moisture and bacteria collects on the pads and around the vents. When a pad's normal position is closed on the vent, that pad and vent collect moisture and bacteria more quickly. As a result, pads that remain normally closed on vents degrade and stick more often than pads that are designed to remain normally open until the musician closes them. The closed vent can also degrade faster than open vents resulting in corrosive damage and costly repair to the instrument. A sticky pad can cause mechanical malfunctions and interfere with a musician's use of an instrument and affect the quality of the music that can be produced. Musicians therefore have to replace normally closed pads more often than normally open pads.
Some musicians will place a reed from the mouthpiece of a wind instrument, such as a saxophone or clarinet, between a vent and pad to help expose the pad to air. Reeds are typically cut from cane or other fine grained woods, with one flat side and one contoured side. One end of the contoured side is sloped to a thin end point to form the vamp and the other side is rounded along its length to conform to a ligature clamping mechanism of the mouthpiece. The slope of the vamp can make it difficult to properly position/center the reed over a vent hole and maintain that position, as movement of the instrument can cause the reed to lose contact with the vent wall and fall into the vent opening or touch the pad seat causing damage. The flat side of the reed can also cause the reed to slip around and fall out between the pad and vent. The smooth surface of the reed, which makes the reed more comfortable for a player to put in their mouth, also promotes slippage. Reeds are often made from porous cane that can retain moisture, which does not promote drying, and can promote bacterial growth.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,439,430 illustrates an alternative solution to a reed, a flexible wire that has a first end that wraps around the body of the musical instrument and a second end that presses down on a key touch, the finger controls used by a musician to play different notes. By pressing down on a key touch, any pads corresponding to the key touch that are normally closed would be forced open by an amount equal to the pressure applied by the second end. While the flexible wire will work on some key touches of some instruments, it is not a universal solution that can be used on multiple different instruments because many instruments have too much key mechanism in the way for the first end to wrap around the body while also being able to apply sufficient pressure at the second end to keep a key touch pressed down. Further, as the wire extends beyond the perimeter of the instrument, that is designed to fit within a tightly padded case when not in use, it may not be possible to safely put the instrument with the wires attached into the case. Additionally, abrasive damage to the instrument finish may occur over time due to the wire contact and pressure points.